What comes to mind when you think of “mercy.”
Mercy, like many other human virtues, cannot be comprehended without an objective moral law which gives objective meaning to mercy. Therefore, it follows that moral law must have a moral law giver.
The problem in our aggressively, and dare I say, ideologically secular society is that the moral “law giver” has has become the human person. As a result we have seen misguided and erroneous approach to mercy. An approach that has a seeming obsession with death. The latest example being an aggressive push for “assisted suicide.”
Courtesy of Unsplash.com by Matthew Henry
I wonder, by what authority do certain individuals believe they can redefine the value of human life? Well if there is no “Moral Law Giver” or no God, then the role of God – to give meaning to life – has become the responsibility of individual human persons. Therefore, making human persons the ultimate moral authority. This leaves a lot of logical inconsistencies in human morality.
Living the Go[o]d Life
Nick Vujicic is a man that knows how to live life to the full. He was born without arms and legs and yet he lives a life of joy while bringing hope to young people around the world. My wife’s grandmother, suffered from cancer for an entire month before passing on, yet I can clearly recall her smiling and cracking jokes despite being bedridden. She even passed away with a smile on her face.
What do Nick and Jennine’s grandmother have in common? They both find hope and purpose in life because they have hope to look forward to in the next life.
Yet in European countries such as the Netherlands and Belgium people can choose to prematurely take their own life simply for feeling depressed, or feeling that their life has no purpose. For instance in his book Forced Exit: The Slippery Slope from Assisted Suicide to Legalized Murder, Wesley J. Smith examines how euthanasia has gone out of control in the Netherlands, where doctors have the authority to even kill babies in their crib if they have “abnormalities.” Also, in Belgium a 24 year old woman was allowed to be euthanized simply for having suicidal thoughts.
Human agency has come to replace the place of God. This cultural mood has recently made its way to some U.S. states and my home country, Canada. Instead of the state giving people hope it simply gives people an “easy” way out.
But should we be surprised? If we look at the state of our ideologically secular culture, we shouldn’t be surprised at all. Once you abandon God and the hope of an afterlife with joy and no suffering, then hope beyond a comfortable material existence becomes non-existent. How sad is that? The state which has been entrusted with upholding human dignity and the sanctity of human life has nothing to offer for human flourishing except death.
That’s Unacceptable!…
The only “hope” that anyone can look forward to is that of an “acceptable” material existence. But if you don’t fall into that the category of what is an acceptable material existence, oh well, your life is devalued by the state and you are mercifully offered a way out.
Who defines what is “acceptable”? Is it a dominant cultural mood? Elected officials? Unelected officials? Or perhaps every individual decides for themselves what is an “acceptable” life. Do you know what that’s called? Make belief. When we make up things (including the meaning of life) we are playing a child’s game.
But what happens when unchecked adults continue as if they were rebellious children. It can be quite frightening. We just have to look at the civilizations up and down history that have abandoned God. They’re no longer around. But belief in God is.
Final Thoughts…
For four years of my life I had the pleasure of working with children with various disabilities, from mental to physical. It’s saddening to think that in some countries their families or doctors would have the right to end their life because they don’t fall into what is determined to be an “acceptable” norm of life. What about Nick Vujicic? Should his life just been ended when he was born without limbs because of the “likelihood” of him having “good” material existence was slim? What about Jennine’s grandmother? Should doctor’s have suggested an easy way since her life had very little “purpose” in her final moments?
What about the powers that be? Do they believe that they’re actions have no consequences? I will end with this. G.K. Chesterton once said, if you want to remove a fence make sure you know why it was put there in the first place. At the end of the day those who are in power will be the most accountable for their actions. Whether they believe in God or not the reality is that, like me and you, not even the most sophisticated reasoning will be able to control their final breath or what happens after.
